


i think we’re alone now

by lingerlikeatattookiss



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 80s high school au, Alternate Universe - 1980s, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, punk zuko, sokka ships zutara, zuko wears eyeliner because i said so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:54:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26472976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lingerlikeatattookiss/pseuds/lingerlikeatattookiss
Summary: Zuko liked wearing eyeliner. It made him feel badass, like Glenn Danzig or Nikki Sixx. He especially liked it when Katara was the one putting it on him.an 80s zutara one shot
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 100





	i think we’re alone now

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my first fanfic ever! I just failed a calc test, so I hope that posting this makes me feel a bit better. This is heavily inspired by GrapefruitTwostep's fic, "Modern Love," so I highly recommend for you all to check it out. I hope you all enjoy this :)

Zuko liked wearing eyeliner. It made him feel badass, like Glenn Danzig or Nikki Sixx. He especially liked it when Katara was the one putting it on him.

He came to this realization when they were sitting on the floor of her bedroom and she was merely inches away from him with the black pencil in her hand. She leaned towards him, her breath fanning across his cheeks as she concentrated on moving the pencil under his right eye. He hoped she didn’t notice the blood that rushed to his face or the way his heartbeat grew louder with every passing second.

But how could he keep his heart quiet when she was so close to him? His senses were aware of everything around him. He felt of the bottom of Katara's bed against his back while she was on her knees in between his spread out legs. He could smell her hairspray and the vanilla perfume she wore. He heard Duran Duran in the background; New wave wasn’t his favorite genre by far, but he’d listen to anything if it meant being close to her. Damn, Toph would mercilessly tease him if she heard how sappy he’d become. But he didn’t want to think about Toph then, not when Katara’s lips were so close to his own.

Katara leaned back a bit once she finished the first eye. She turned her head and squinted before deeming her work satisfactory and moving onto the next eye. Zuko’s fingers twitched on the floor. She hadn’t touched his scar before. His fears were soon eased when she delicately glided the eyeliner across his watermark.

Although the nerve damage prevented him from truly feeling her fingers on his rough skin, he knew she was touching it with care. He scanned her face for any signs of disgust, yet he was only met with the same expression of concentration that she wore when she did the first eye.

Zuko felt the breath leave his chest when Katara finally backed away from him. He was slightly upset at the loss of contact, however he wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to survive sitting so close to her without doing something insane.

There was a thickness in the air that wasn’t present before. The song on the radio changed, and now he could hear the stupidly high notes of a-ha’s “Take on Me.” He cleared his throat, “Thanks Katara.”

“Why are you already thanking me, you don’t even know what it looks like yet. I could’ve done an awful job,” she teased.

“You’ve never been awful at anything and I don’t think makeup will be the first.”

He saw her smile bashfully before she quickly twisted her body away in order to reach the mirror that sat on her desk. Katara handed it to him and he let his fingers brush across hers for a second too long as he grabbed the hilt. Raising the mirror to his face, he was pleased to be correct in his assumption. She'd had done a good job, and despite his usual contempt towards the left side of his face, he had to admit that he looked somewhat nice.

* * *

While Zuko looked at his reflection in the mirror, Katara took the opportunity to get a full look at him herself. She’d always thought he was good looking, but something about him sitting on her floor his leather jacket and doc martins paired with messy hair and eyeliner made her feel a bit light-headed.

She watched him examine his face in the mirror and her chest swelled with pride when she saw a small smile settle on his lips. It was nice to see him smile, considering he almost always wore a frown or a smirk when they first met. Katara's lips turn up in the corners as she remembers how they met.

_ Four months ago, Katara stood outside of Jet’s house with two dozen eggs and enough anger to fight an entire army. Normally, she didn’t condone egging houses, but she also didn’t condone cheating. She figured having to clean up a couple of eggs was far easier than mending a broken heart .  _

_ She was so invested in chucking eggs at his window that she didn’t notice the boy walking towards her. He startled her when he reached down and grabbed an egg before throwing it at the house’s front door. She turned towards the person and was shocked to find Zuko Sozin, the senior well known for his scary demeanor and large scar, standing before her. _

_ “This is Jet’s house, right?”  _

_ She gulped, “Yeah.” _

_ “Good. He’s a dick.” With that being said, Zuko picked up a few more eggs and threw them to the high spaces that she had been unable to reach. Katara smirked as she envisioned Jet on a ladder, struggling to clean up the splattered eggs near his roof. _

_ The next few minutes went by quickly with only the sound of eggs splashing against house’s siding. Katara found a strange comfort in Zuko’s prescence and was sad to see him immediately turn around and walk in the other direction the moment both cartons were empty. She assumed that was the last she would see of him. Lucky for her, she was wrong. _

_ Zuko seemed to be everywhere after that. She constantly saw him in the hallway, during lunch, and he even turned out to be the nephew of the owner of her favorite tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon. Eventually, Zuko began working at the Jasmine Dragon, and as he spent more time with her and her friends, he swiftly became a member of the group. _

_ Although, she must admit their friendship has included a lot of fighting too. Most notably, she refused to speak to him for two weeks when she found out that his father, Ozai Sozin, and their family company had been spearheading the initiative to undermine the environmental protection laws enforced by the Southern Water Tribe in order to expand their company to the South Pole. As a girl extremely proud of her culture and homeland, she’d been disgusted to know that Zuko’s family had involved in trying to destroy it. _

_ It wasn’t until she learned from Zuko’s Uncle Iroh that Zuko has been disowned by his father that she was willing to speak to him again. When she sought him out, Zuko revealed the abuse he’d endured from his father and explained that he was disowned when he called out the company’s actions. He didn't ask her to forgive him or his family, rather he simply wanted to explain himself, making it clear that he respected Katara’s anger when he offered would keep his space from her. Despite being grateful for his offer, she immediately turned it down, and instead, she engulfed him in a hug. She realized her issue was with Ozai and the men he worked with, not Zuko, and that he had proven himself to be a good person despite his suffering. Since then, she and Zuko had a new understanding of each other and he solidified his place as one of her closet friends. _

Friends...Katara wasn't sure if she still wanted to use that word to describe Zuko. Suki was her friend, Aang was her friend, Zuko was...something else. Friends shouldn't think about each other the way she thinks about Zuko. 

But Katara knew she wasn’t Zuko’s type. He’d just gotten out of an off-and-on again relationship with his sister’s friend, Mai. Mai was tall, pale, beautiful, and effortlessly cool. Meanwhile, Katara barely reached 5’3”, was a teachers pet in every class, only listened to top hits on the radio, and couldn’t stand the smell of cigarettes. 

She felt that she was everything Zuko would dislike in a partner. However, a voice in the back of her head reminded her that Zuko stopped smoking cigarettes whenever she was around and that he didn't seem to mind her bossy attitude or her lame taste in music, but she tried to push the thoughts away before she could get her hopes up. 

She returned her attention to Zuko when he looked up from the mirror. His gold eyes contrasted beautifully with the black outlining his eyes and she felt like he could see right through her. She wanted nothing more than to stare into those pools of amber for the rest of eternity. 

Unfortunately, "staring into Zuko's eyes" is not considered a plausible career choice, and she had to speak to him before things got awkward. Before she could open her mouth, he handed the mirror back to her.

"I was right. It looks great, Katara," he gloated. 

"Well, I'm glad you like it."

Katara turned to return the mirror to its place on her desk when she heard Zuko begin to say something, “So, um, I was thinking...”

Already on edge due to his close proximity, Katara rushed to turn around and look at him. Due to her jerky movement, she lost her balance and fell on top of Zuko. Whatever he had been about to say was abandoned the moment her body made contact with his. Time seemed to slow down as Katara felt Zuko’s muscles moving beneath her. Before she could could even consider the consequences of her actions, she lowered her lips to his.

Fortunately, he seemed to have wanted the same thing as her and he responded quickly, moving his mouth against hers. Kissing him was much better than she had ever imagined. His hands gravitated towards her hips while her own hands moved upward to run through his hair. They were so invested in each other that they didn’t hear the feet coming up the stairs.

The sound of Katara’s door bursting open made her jump from on top of Zuko. “Hey, Katara have you seen-“  
said Sokka as he walked her room in, his lips pressed together and his eyes narrowed when he saw the messy appearance of the two teenagers together on the floor.

“What’s going on here?”

Katara racked her brain for an excuse and Zuko seemed to be doing the same, as she saw his mouth repeatedly open and close, but no words came out.

“Were you two-?” Sokka stuttered as he pointed between them, “you know, like making out?”

“Sokka!” Katara shrieked as Zuko’s face went red.

“Oh my god, you were, weren’t you?” He smiled trumphantly, “I gotta tell Suki about this, she owes me money now.”

“You’ve been betting on me!”

“Relax Katara, we’ve all been betting on you two for a while now. Don’t get so upset. Anyways, I gotta go call Suki.” He rushed out her door towards the phone in the kitchen. As he ran down the stairs, he called back to them, “Oh and leave the door open or I’ll tell Gran Gran!”

Once Sokka was gone, Katara felt Zuko relax beside her. She turned to him and giggled.

“Well that could’ve gone much worse. But I can’t believe they’ve had a bet going on us. Were we really that obvious?”

“Honestly, we probably were,” he admitted. Grabbing her hand, he intertwined her fingers with his own. “Katara, would you like to go out with me sometime?”

She kissed his scarred cheek and grinned. “Yeah, Zuko. I’d like that a lot.”


End file.
